Book Club Discussion: Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

Not yet, but there will be spoilers. You have been warned.

Provisions and Paperbacks, my IRL book club, recently read Dark Lover by J.R. Ward. As I said in my previous post (you can read it here), I want to share some thoughts and ideas brought up during the book club and bring my blog readers into the discussion.

  
Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
 Published September 6th 2005 by Signet Eclipse
393 pages

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.

There will be spoilers. You have been warned.

Here are some thoughts shared during our book club discussion after reading Dark Lover:

• Selecting this book as our monthly read is a perfect example of why I love my book club. Dark Lover is not a book that I would typically pick up - I would have shrugged it off as just another series that I don't need to get caught up in.
•  One member mentioned she read this book (and the series) before because we always share the books that we've read along with discussing our book club book. I all but yelled at her wanting to know why she didn't push this book on me sooner and harder. We all loved it!
• I was the first to admit that I skipped ahead to read all of the racy sex scenes. I was that girl and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I did read the entire book and not just the naughty parts.  
• Enjoyed the mythologies of the Black Dagger Brotherhood - their histories and how they all answer to a higher power
• It was weird to learn that the vamps survival relied on drinking the blood of other vampires - this was a new take on the ritual of drinking blood
•  Beth was pretty kick-ass. Smart, witty, self-reliant, and confident. Overall a great character who we wanted to read about. She was self-assured and wouldn't take crap from anyone. 
• Thank goodness no one sparkled in the sunlight and that storyline stuck to the belief that vamps couldn't go out in the sun (with some slight exceptions)
• The names were really cheesy -Wrath, Phury, Rhage, Zsadist - normally this alone would have convinced me not to read the books
• Wrath said that his name - first and last was only Wrath - but that doesn't fit with the storytelling because the vampires were not always vampires and went through a transition period. Before that they would have had normal lives, normal names. Maybe this will be revealed in later books of the series.
• There were a lot of spelling errors in my edition of the book. I think that after so many printings, this would have been noticed and corrected. Even though this isn't part of the story, I had to bring it up because it was distracting.
• I tweeted a few times about reading Dark Lover and someone commented that Zsadist was their favorite of the Brotherhood (from other books in the series). This comment made me read his character from a different perspective and allowed me to pick up on subtleties that maybe, just maybe Zsadist isn't as bad as the other brothers believe him to be.  
• We kept picturing the sensei, Mr. X, as the sensei from The Karate Kid (1984) but sometimes he seemed kind of weasel-y too. It was difficult to get a clear picture because he was evil, but at the same time you could imagine making fun of him because he was so lame.
• We wondered what exactly is the Omega? Not the devil, but is it kind of like The First from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
• Impressed by the powers of the vampires, not just the typical strength associated with vampires, but their special "superhero-like" powers (or curses)
• Who could play Wrath in the movie version of Dark Lover? Hugh Jackman - maybe. 
• Why does Wrath have to have a widow's peak because really, does that make him more attractive? The consensus was no. 
• Did Darius know his fate and intentionally set Wrath and Beth up so they would be together? Did he know what Wrath and Marissa were not a couple? Or did he really just want to make sure that Beth made it through her transition?

This book offered so much to talk about and it was a nice change of pace to step away from all of the young adult books that we've read for the book club recently. It is safe to say that now we are all fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood and plan to read more books in the series.

I'd like to invite anyone to join in on the discussion and share your thoughts on Dark Lover BUT I do ask that you only make comments on this specific book in the series and that you don't reveal any spoilers for future books in the series. Please and Thank you!

Up next for Provisions and Paperbacks